Trump and some top aides question accuracy of virus death toll  —  President Trump has complained to advisers about the way coronavirus deaths are being calculated, suggesting the real numbers are actually lower — and a number of his senior aides share this view, according to sources with direct knowledge.

How Kushner's Volunteer Force Led a Fumbling Hunt for Medical Supplies  —  Roughly a dozen young, inexperienced workers were assembled to sort through tips on masks, gloves and other equipment.  Warehouses were running bare, and doctors fighting the coronavirus were forced to make their own protective gear.

Trump order to paint border wall black could drive up cost $500 million or more  —  President Trump is once more pushing to have his border wall painted black, a design change that is projected to add at least $500 million in costs, according to government contracting estimates obtained by The Washington Post.

Byron York's Daily Memo: EXCLUSIVE - DNI to Schiff: The transcripts are ready to release  —  Welcome to Byron York's Daily Memo newsletter.  —  Was this email forwarded to you?  Sign up here to receive the newsletter.  —  EXCLUSIVE — DNI TO SCHIFF: THE TRANSCRIPTS ARE READY TO RELEASE.

Don't Be Fooled by America's Flattening Curve  —  Here is America's coronavirus curve: the number of newly reported cases each day.  The curve has started declining moderately from the peak in early April.  —  But that's not the whole story.  Separate the region around New York City and the picture becomes far less rosy.

Voters Divided on Alleged Biden Assault  —  Half the electorate consider voting by mail this year  —  West Long Branch, NJ - Recent headlines may have dented Joe Biden's favorability rating ever so slightly but he has actually widened his national lead over Donald Trump in the race for president.

Trump touted reopening.  Privately, his team sounded alarms.  —  President Donald Trump boasted on May 1 that his success in responding to the coronavirus pandemic has made ventilator, test kit and mask shortages a thing of the past, and that much of the country is ready to quickly send people back to work.

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says evidence suggests coronavirus was not man-made or released from lab  —  The Pentagon's top uniformed official on Tuesday maintained that available evidence indicates the virus that has caused a global pandemic was natural and not man-made or released purposely from a Chinese lab.

'It's gone haywire': When COVID-19 arrived in rural America  —  DAWSON, Ga. (AP) — The reverend approached the makeshift pulpit and asked the Lord to help him make some sense of the scene before him: two caskets, side by side, in a small-town cemetery busier now than ever before.

Betsy DeVos Completes Sexual Assault Rules  —  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos released final regulations for schools dealing with sexual misconduct, giving them the force of law for the first time and bolstering due-process rights.  —  WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos …

GOP lawmakers cheer Texas salon owner for violating stay-at-home order  —  Republican officials across the country have urged reopening businesses despite public health experts' advice that doing so too quickly will result in more cases of the virus.  —  Republican elected officials are rushing …

Trump Contradicts Nurse Who Reports Shortages of Protective Gear  —  President Donald Trump contradicted a nurse who said during a meeting with him at the White House Wednesday that some parts of the country are still experiencing shortages of protective medical gear, insisting the U.S. supply is “tremendous.”

Trump's train wreck ABC interview illustrated why he rarely strays from Fox News  —  President Trump tours a Honeywell plant in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 5.  Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images  —  “I'll be honest, uh, I have a lot of things going on,” Trump said, trying to explain his lack of coronavirus preparation.

Firm Set Up by G.O.P. Operatives Under Scrutiny Over Virus Contracts  —  Blue Flame Medical boasted that it could acquire masks, testing kits and other equipment to respond to the pandemic.  State and local governments paid up — and are still waiting for delivery.

Announcing the First Members of the Oversight Board  —  Today, the impact of social media on people's lives is hard to grasp.  This can often be positive.  As the world lives through a global health crisis, social media has become a lifeline for helping people and communities to stay connected.

The problem with Biden's pledge of a black woman Supreme Court justice  —  There are few black women serving on the federal judiciary, and none younger than age 67 in appeals courts, the usual stepping stone to the high court.  —  WASHINGTON — Joe Biden has promised that if elected president …

The president is not well: The umpteenth reminders of Trump's mental state and the consequences  —  Every parent has warily confronted the hypothetical question: What would you do if you suspected your child was unwell?  —  Not physically, but emotionally unwell, or mentally unstable?

What Is the Real Coronavirus Toll in Each State?  —  As the coronavirus pandemic cuts through the country, it is leaving behind large numbers of deaths that surpass those of recent history.  A New York Times analysis of state data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows …

Coronavirus Casts Deep Chill Over U.S.-China Relations  —  Pandemic has brought relations between the two to a modern-day nadir as they try to outmaneuver one another to shape the world order  —  Relations between the U.S. and China, strained for years, have deteriorated at a rapid clip in recent months …

Report: Detroit Casinos May Not Reopen For Months While Tribal Casino Up North Re-Starts Today  —  The Detroit mayor says it depends on a treatment or vaccine.  —  (WWJ) Because of a nearly $350 million budget shortage, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan suspended anti-blight programs across the city …

State health department tells university COVID-19 modeling team to stop work, limits data access  —  The Arizona Department of Health Services told a team of university experts working on COVID-19 modeling to “pause” its work, an email from a department leader shows.

Where the virus is spreading fastest  —  In addition to keeping an eye on the tragic, and climbing, numbers of total coronavirus cases and deaths across the U.S., it's important to watch how those trends are playing out over time at the state level.  —  Why it matters: Rising, or falling …

Coronavirus lessons on density, mass transit, bureaucracy and censorship: They kill.  —  Coronavirus unknowns include how fatal it is and if we can make a vaccine.  But we've already learned about four things that make the pandemic worse.  —  The novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan …

Kemp Warns Of Growing Outbreak Stressing Northeast Georgia  —  Gov. Brian Kemp warned on Tuesday that a growing coronavirus outbreak is stressing resources in northeast Georgia.  —  Kemp has moved aggressively to allow businesses to reopen even though infections are on the rise in some areas of the state.

New Colorado poll shows Hickenlooper widening double-digit lead over Gardner  —  Former Gov. John Hickenlooper leads U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner by 18 percentage points in Colorado's U.S. Senate race, according to a poll from Colorado firms released Wednesday.  —  The Keating-Onsight-Melanson poll …

Sources: US investigating ex-Green Beret for Venezuela raid  —  MIAMI (AP) — A former Green Beret who has claimed responsibility for an ill-fated military incursion into Venezuela is under federal investigation for arms trafficking, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials.

Zoom Adds Board Member H.R. McMaster and Head of Global Public Policy and Government Relations Jonathan Kallmer to Leadership Team  —  Zoom announced today that it has appointed Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond “H.R.” McMaster as an independent director on Zoom's Board of Directors …

I Believe Tara Reade.  I'm Voting for Joe Biden Anyway.  —  The importance of owning an ugly moral choice.  —  Ms. Hirshman is the author, most recently, of “Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment.”  —  Let's be clear: I believe Tara Reade.  I believed Anita Hill, too.

Was Donald Trump Good at Baseball?  —  The president has long claimed he could have gone pro.  We looked into it.  —  In President Donald Trump's memory, he was a high school baseball star.  —  “I was supposed to be a pro baseball player,” Donald Trump wrote in 2004.

States of Play: Battleground Survey Shows Voters Concerned About Reopening Economy  —  CNBC/Change Research Poll in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin: May 1-3, 2020  — 68% of voters in the battleground remain seriously concerned about the coronavirus …

Health workers that volunteered to come to NY during pandemic have to pay state income tax: Cuomo  —  NEW YORK — Health care workers that came to New York to help fight the coronavirus pandemic at its epicenter will have to pay state taxes, according to the governor.  —  He addressed the issues Tuesday at a news conference.

Video posted online as DA says case of Georgia man who was chased and killed will go to grand jury  —  Brunswick, Georgia (CNN)The fatal shooting of a black man — apparently recorded on video in February and posted online Tuesday by a local radio station host — will go to a grand jury in coastal Georgia …

Ann Vandersteel Reported That Comey, Brennan, Clapper, and Their ‘Minions’ Would All Be Arrested by May 5  —  During last Thursday's episode of her “Steel Truth” program, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theorist Ann Vandersteel claimed that one of her sources, who she said had never been wrong …

The White House waves a white flag in fight against coronavirus  —  First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.  —  WASHINGTON — Let's be blunt about it: President Trump signaled Tuesday …